Amazon Wisdom Keeper: A Psychologist's Memoir Of Spiritual Awakening

Paperback | October 24, 2017

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With captivating lyricism, Amazon Wisdom Keeper transports us into the multicultural upbringing and transformation of Loraine Van Tuyl, a graduate psychology student and budding shamanic healer who's blindsided by startling visions, elusive drumming, and her inseverable mystical ties to the Amazon rainforest of her native Suriname. Is she in the wrong field, or did her childhood dreams, imaginary guides, and premonitions somehow prepare her for these challenges? Did Suriname's military coup and her family's uprooting move to the US rob her from all that she knew and loved at thirteen to help reveal her soul's purpose, or is she losing her mind by entertaining far-fetched questions and hunches that can't be answered or proven-like wondering if her perplexing life story is shedding light on the double-binds in her field on purpose, and suspecting that her soul's daunting blue print was plotted long before she was even born? Van Tuyl wrestles with these questions and more as she embarks upon her risky quest, enduring test upon test in search of her true self and calling while enrolled in a rigorous academic program that regards intuitive healing methods as unscientific-and even unethical.

About The Author

Loraine Y. Van Tuyl, PhD, CHT, is a shamanic healer, holistic psychologist, author. For at least a decade, she has guided and trained depth hypnosis practitioners, shamanic healers, and master- and doctoral-level psychotherapists at the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, Native Health, the UC Berkeley Counseling Center, and her private p...

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Editorial Reviews

"In a memoir that's braver than most, Loraine Van Tuyl shows how personal and ancestral stories and gifts breathe vitality into our life force. While taking us through a memory portal, she invites us to retrace our steps through our jungles of experiences, and dares us to recognize our own instinctual reactions at interesting crossroads in our lives. Her story of reclaiming and nurturing her awakening life force as a student, in the face of strong resistance, is valuable because it opens the door to how personal, cultural and spiritual truths and traditions can transform traditional Western psychology as well as individual lives."—Maria P. P. Root, PhD, Award-winning Psychologist, Reiki Master, artist, and author of The Multiracial Experience: Racial Borders as the New Frontier"Loraine Van Tuyl's debut memoir, Amazon Wisdom Keeper, weaves personal and political truths with poetic mastery. By daring to break from limiting conventions-in the field as well as writing-Van Tuyl has forged a liberating path for those at the margins just as her ancestors once did. It is an absolute must for psychotherapists and healthcare providers seeking to make conscious social change and expand the purview of traditional psychology through their multidimensional practice."—Tala Khanmalek, PhD, Research Associate, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Princeton University"A passionate journey into spirituality that's unique, compelling, well-told . . . written with admirable conviction."—BookLife"A triumph of the heart! Amazon Wisdom Keeper reminds us of the essential need to connect to our authentic wholeness in order to provide service in the world. Loraine Van Tuyl has vulnerably and powerfully laid out her own journey along this path, inspiring growth, faith, and hope along the way."—Anne Lowe, MSW, social work instructor, Salish Kootenai College"Loraine Van Tuyl's memoir vividly places the reader in magical and exotic settings, while at the same time navigating a magical and exotic inner landscape. The narrator is very likeable and relatable, and her fierce energy is enticing. For me, the biggest gift of the book was the camaraderie with a like-minded soul and being with a narrator who not only understood the 'reality' of magic and intuition, but stood in its power." Laraine Herring, author of On Being Stuck: Tapping into the Creative Power of Writer's Block."Amazon Wisdom Keeper will 'accidentally' fall off the shelf at the opportune time for many readers. It's truly a gift that will contribute to the next phase of humanity. In this important book, Loraine Van Tuyl captivates us with her personal journey and offers a revolutionary message about the human experience and what it means to be whole. Her story coherently weaves together so many levels of being, cultural issues, and forgotten truths, producing a true page turner that touches the heart and the mind. Read this book as a compelling personal memoir, a profound spiritual message, or as complimentary reading for cross-cultural psychology, counseling, feminism, ethics and spirituality." —Megan Cowan, Co-Founder, Mindful Schools"Amazon Wisdom Keeper richly mirrors the incongruence I experience as a sensitive psychotherapist working within a mental health paradigm that at times clashes with my own intuitions about healing and instilled in me a sorely needed dose of validation, inspiration, and spiritual camaraderie. This book will catalyze and energize the visionary process of other sensitive, spiritually inclined healers, researchers, teachers, creators, innovators, and change-makers who also hear the call."—Krista Harrison, MFT, CHT, intuitive and shamanic healer"Loraine Van Tuyl has drawn on an extraordinary multicultural background and a career as a professional healer to produce a beguiling and insightful work of wisdom and compassion . . . Highly recommended!" ?—Mark Plotkin, PhD, President, Amazon Conservation Team, author of Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice, Medicine Quest"Loraine Van Tuyl has written a memoir that spans time and space, memory and pre-cognition. She bridges cultural landscapes of nations and mindsets with a breezy and natural writing style, and escorts the reader across the bridges she creates with skill and purpose, showing what is required to move from one realm to another and maintain equilibrium and balance. We can all learn from the courage and commitment to meaning and understanding so poignantly demonstrated in Amazon Wisdom Keeper."—Isa Gucciardi, PhD, primary teacher at the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, author of Return to the Great Mother"As we are poised at this critical time to evolve our consciousness, Loraine Van Tuyl has every reason to bring Amazon Wisdom Keeper forward to the public and especially therapists to open ourselves up to the multidimensionality of our beings."—Donna Morrish, MFT, Founder, Paths of Grace"All the tales are so validating and inspiring."—Denise Colby, PhD, Founder of Integrative Wellness"What a wonderful book! Loraine Van Tuyl is a clear voice to follow in the vastness of the mystical journey within to discover the sacred and the divine."—Lisa Tahir, LCSW, Host of "All Things Therapy" radio show"From the very beginning, Amazon Wisdom Keeper is a feast for your inner child as well as your growing and developing spiritual indweller. Loraine Van Tuyl draws the reader into a sacred setting that is, for most of us, far away and unknown, yet so richly and succinctly described that the plentiful allegories hang ripe, sweet, and waiting to be plucked and savored. The journey Van Tuyl reveals in dewy, saturating, and powerful language renders her intensely personal experiences into savored, exotic delicacies that are somehow as welcome and familiar as a beloved family recipe. I devoured."—J. R. Schumaker, author of Diana's Dragons: the Awaited